


Feed Them On Your Dreams

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e21 Weirdmageddon 4 Somewhere In The Woods, Family, Ficlet, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Weirdmageddon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25455640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: Though he’s been ruminating on the thought for days, Ford is nonetheless caught off-guard when the words finally pour out of his mouth: “Dipper, I owe you an apology.”
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Ford Pines, Dipper Pines & Mabel Pines, Ford Pines & Stan Pines
Comments: 16
Kudos: 113





	Feed Them On Your Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Though he’s been ruminating on the thought for days, Ford is nonetheless caught off-guard when the words finally pour out of his mouth: “Dipper, I owe you an apology.”

He’s not as surprised, however, as Dipper himself seems to be. “What?”

The two of them are sitting at the kitchen table, ostensibly pouring over Ford’s journals—with summer’s end only days away, now, there’s precious little time left for Dipper to ask _The Author_ any lingering questions in person, at least for now. But in actuality, they’re each listening through the walls as, in the living room, Mabel talks Stan through yet another scrapbook page.

Stan has made great strides in his memory in the past several days. The events of the summer—and recollections of the children—had returned the most easily, which is understandable, given not only their proximity, but also the fact that they are overwhelming _happy_. Some memories of Ford have returned too, but they’re slower going, harder to wrench back because even the happy ones are twinged with pain, the melancholy potential of _what might have been_. And something in Ford, some selfish part of him, wants to let them _rest_. But he knows that wouldn’t be fair. Stan deserves at least the whole truth about what happened in his own life, and Ford must help him remember what he can, no matter how difficult that task might be.

But there will time—there will be _so much time_ —to work on that once the children have left. In these few precious days in which they are still together, those memories, and these conversations, must take precedence. 

Ford turns to the boy, steels himself, then, finally, with a forced and terse nonchalance, speaks. “I tried to pull you away from your sister. I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, but…it wasn’t like…you weren’t…you were trying to _help_ me, right? Give me an opportunity?”

“That’s what I told myself, but I wonder...” How much with this boy, these past few weeks, had been in earnest? How much had been projecting, an attempt to reclaim a life lost, vicariously, through a child? He sighs. “I see a lot of myself in you, Dipper. Much of it good, much of it makes me _proud_. But…”

In the other room, Mabel gestures emphatically with her hands, loose strands from her sweater zigzagging around the air. Stan grunts in affection. They’d _lost so much time_ …

“Treasure your sister,” Ford finishes.

Dipper rests a hand on his. “I will, Grunkle Ford.”

“Good, good.” 

There is hope yet, Ford thinks, for Pines twins. And _that_ , if nothing else, is something to be thankful for.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. I love comments!


End file.
